Name: Blaine Krauss
Title: Musical Theatre student at the University of Cincinnati College-Conservatory of Music
Hometown: Saint Petersburg, Florida
Why we love him: His humble attitude, incredible talent and uncanny ability to strip the meaningful from the material.
Blaine Krauss is a Southern gentleman who radiates energy both onstage and off. His first love is singing, and he makes a conscious choice to fill his life with joy every day — a joy that starts with God and performing (and cookies and cream ice cream).
“You know the stereotypes: black kid in church,” he says of how he discovered his passion for singing. “I was always a singer first. I grew up in a Methodist church in Saint Petersburg and it was like me and another kid in the adult choir, we skipped the children’s choir. Once I started doing musicals in middle school, it just made sense. … It’s funny though, I hate listening to myself — I would never buy my own record.”
Whether or not he wants to listen to it, Krauss is known for his incredible falsetto, as well as his stage presence, both of which he is perfecting in musical theatre at CCM.
Krauss is currently rehearsing for his role as Jean Valjean, the lead in CCM’s upcoming production of Les Miserables (Feb. 27-March 9). He previously played leading roles in the CCM musicals Chess and Into the Woods. He was also the central role in Xanadu at The Carnegie, a kitschy cult musical involving a lot of rollerskating.
“I love knowing that in 10 years I will have gone to school with some people who are going to be at the top of their craft,” he says. “I go to my classmates’ shows and I’m like ‘OK, in 20 years, that girl is going to be unreal, and I just saw her for free.’ I really appreciate everyone’s talents and abilities. I just like passionate people and passionate things and that’s what CCM is: so passionate.”
How do you define passion?
To me, passion is doing what others don’t, to achieve what others won’t. I have that written in black marker on my mirror. I think that’s what true passion is. Musical theater is my true passion. I will drop everything at a hat to do this, and do it forever.
Name someone that you love — a role model, best friend, inspiration, etc. And tell us why.
I love my grandmother. She is very strong, and she has been through everything — good and bad. She comes out stronger every day. She chooses joy every single day and has always been a role model to me. She’s not rich, she’s not wealthy, she frequently struggles, but you would never know it. When you meet her and talk to her she’s so full of life. I have a lot of people in my life that are very inspirational and very influential, but she’s definitely at the top of that pyramid.
What is the best lesson life has taught you about love?
I had a really big incident where a lot of things I loved — materialistic things like trophies and awards — were lost when I was growing up. My parents split up when I was in high school. When they got a divorce, all of our things went into a storage room. ...One day we got a call that told us all of our things were gone I had just moved to a new school, and we had to bring in “something from our childhood” in class one day. I brought in some photos that I still had and the teacher asked me why I brought those in. And I said, “I have these because I don’t have anything else.” And from that day on I learned the lesson of what truly matters in life. And love is what matters the most.
